[https://i.imgur.com/Z1P9yTM.png]

The two of us sit down on the sand. We stare at the sunset and listen to the roiling, rolling, waves that never stop.

[Yuri]: Hey, Lily?

[Lily]: Yeah?

[Yuri]: We’re not escaping this way, are we?

[Lily]: …No.

It would be safer to stay in this death game than to set sail into an endless blue. I had thought that the escape had been easy, but you don’t need fences when you have an ocean. Flopping back on the soft grains, lying face-up, a strange peace sets in. It was no longer our fault if we didn’t escape; it was just too risky to leave.

Though I had searched for a way out, the prospect of returning to my daily life had given me a sense of dread that I couldn’t shake. This game, through Lily, had granted me a sense of purpose for the first time in my life.

She shifts besides me, and her voice cuts into my thoughts.

[Lily]: What are you going to do when you’re back home?

[Yuri]: When I go back home? Shouldn’t that be an ‘if’?

[Lily]: We’ll both make it back home. I’m sure of it. So, what do you think?

Home for me was a messy dormitory. The bed was unmade, and the last time I dusted and cleaned was… I don’t really remember.

[Yuri]: You go first.

[Lily]: Home is an empty place for me. My father's a researcher, so he comes back after midnight.

[Lily]: I know that his work is important. A pill that can cure people of all ailments; how could it not be? Him not being home is a small price to pay. But I still get lonely.

[Lily]: And being on the student council makes it hard to find friends because they're scared I'll report them. It makes me wonder if anyone really knows me.

[Yuri]: I see you in front of school every day! You’re diligent, confident, kind. And when I was 'sick', I saw you too.

My face flushes and my voice withers away. I go back to rubbing the sand, and Lily seems to be looking up at the clouds, staring at the seagulls.

[Lily]: I overheard your conversation with the [Rat] on the elevator.

[Yuri]: Oh…

Lost in thoughts that run in circles and chase their own tails, the words Lily says feel unreal. The only way I prevent myself from melting into a puddle on the spot is the slim chance that this is a dream.

[Lily]: I don’t know you that well, Yuri. And you don’t know me.

[Yuri]: Oh…

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[Lily]: Every day at school, every day when you were sick, you’re not seeing the real me. What you saw was a class rep, cool, calm, collected. Maybe you thought I was kind, but really I was just being dutiful.

[Yuri]: What exactly did you hear? Was it just that I wasn't Seer, or…?

-was it all the things the [Rat] said about how I cared for her too?

Lily gives me a long look. Her eyes meet mine until I glance away.

[Lily]: When we return home, this is what I’d like to do. I’d like to talk to you more, to really meet you, as if for for the first time.

[Lily]: And I want you to decide what we do together. Okay?

[Yuri]: What do you mean by, decide what we do together? Like… for… a hangout, or…?

[Lily]: Hmph! Hangout or date, it doesn’t matter to me. I’m just saying that I’ve only really known you from the school gate, and from this game.

[Lily]: I can tell you’re good at mafia. But I want to understand what you’re passionate about in our everyday lives.

[Lily]: And I want you to get to know me. I don’t want to be band-aid for a hole in your heart, or some prophet you turn to for answers. I just want to be a person you like and understand and not a crutch.

In a way what she’s saying might be true. Do I really like Lily, or do I just like 'a person who cares about me'?

But even if she’s right and I don’t really know her, I think the kind of person who'd consider these things would be someone I’d care about, regardless of whatever else they may be.

I look at her.

[Yuri]: You're right that I don’t really know you. But I’m certain that you’re someone that I want to get to know more.

[Yuri]: When we escape this place, I’ll swear I’ll learn more about you.

Lily shakes my hand, and I feel the grains of sand between our palms.

[Lily]: And you’ll show me more about yourself.

[Yuri]: I guess so.

[Lily]: You will!

[Yuri]: Fine.

Lily has an odd glint in her eye. She rolls over, body going against the beach, and looks up at me.

[Lily]: ...you did want a date, right?

[Yuri]: Yes. But it might not happen. With this ocean in front of us, the sun setting, and the timer to curfew running low, you have to know that more of us will die.

She smiles distantly.

[Lily]: We'll both survive, I'm sure. Everyone will.

She scoots closer.

[Lily]: What I'm doing now is just because I think it's a better way to promise than a handshake. Not at all cause I'm afraid it won't happen later. Close your eyes.

Instead of closing them, my eyes widen as she approaches me.

She kisses me. And the waves continue to roll.

If this is a dream, I think it’s a good dream; and a long one. But it finally ends.

[Lily]: I want to talk more about what might be the reason behind the game. I feel like we could come up with it if we thought about it together; but it'll have to be another time.

She gestures behind her; voices are rising from beyond the dunes.

[Horse]: We did it!!! Together we FINALLY made it through that door!!!

[Rat]: Guess busting through the front-entrance does make more sense than escaping through an elevator with a paper clip. Well played.

[Tiger]: I’m not slowing down for any of you! Let’s go slackers!

[Dragon]: Don’t worry, we have plenty of time.

They reach the dune’s apex and the voices die as everyone sees blue sprawling before them. The [Rat] wordlessly turns back; and after a few minutes, most follow him, but one person sits down.

The [Dragon] watches the sun sink into the ocean. As the sun disappears, so too do the lights in his eyes.

[Dragon]: So this is how it has to be.

Seagulls fly from the beach out into the open sea.